Childhood vaccines aren’t ‘poison’

A Facebook post circulating online says that childhood vaccines are “poison”. 

This isn’t true. Vaccines are generally a safe and effective means of protecting a baby or child against serious and sometimes fatal diseases.

All vaccines in use in the UK are monitored for side effects by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to ensure they remain safe to use.

Medical practitioners and members of the public are also able to report their own suspected side effects of a vaccination to the MHRA via the Yellow Card scheme.

Vaccine misinformation can cause direct damage to people’s physical or psychological health, and can put particular communities and vaccine coverage levels at risk.

Risks and benefits of vaccination

The NHS recommends vaccination for children “because it gives your baby protection against serious diseases, most of which can kill”.

A recent study from the World Health Organization (WHO) found that over the last 50 years, global immunisation has saved an estimated 154 million lives, including 101 million infants.

Childhood vaccines can also dramatically reduce the prevalence of many diseases.

Meningitis, for example, has a high fatality rate if left untreated. Research led by then-Public Health England (PHE) published in January 2020 found that infant vaccination against group B meningococcal disease (MenB) had reduced cases of meningitis and septicaemia in young children by 62%.

And two doses of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine is effective in 88% of cases of mumps and in 99% of cases of measles and rubella. 

Vaccines can cause side effects. However the NHS says that most side effects are “mild and do not last long”.

Vaccine safety

Vaccines are rigorously safety tested before they are introduced to the wider population and are constantly monitored for adverse effects.

According to the Vaccine Knowledge Project at the University of Oxford, the standard for testing and monitoring vaccines is higher than it is for most other medicines because they are given primarily to healthy people, and mainly children.

Vaccines typically go through a number of phases during testing, in groups of increasing size. These phases will look to identify any safety concerns, possible side effects and see how effective the vaccine is.

After a vaccine has been licensed and is in use, it will be constantly monitored by the MHRA.

Based on the outcome, information on the vaccine may be updated or, in more severe cases, the MHRA may issue a warning to prevent its use among specific groups of people.

Rarely, the vaccine may be withdrawn from use if it is necessary to do so.

Vaccine ingredients

Full Fact regularly checks claims about specific vaccine ingredients.

Often, these ingredients are used in the manufacturing process—and so are not in the final vaccine—or are present in such small quantities that they aren’t harmful.

The NHS provides information on the ingredients used in vaccines and their purposes. 

You can read more about our work checking vaccine claims on our Vaccines page.